Field
The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems and more specifically to systems, methods, and devices for authentication within wireless communication systems.
Background
In Wi-Fi networking applications, security features have gradually evolved to provide more robust and better integrated security tools. In the EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) standard of 802.11, promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an authentication technique including a mechanism referred to as a “4-Way handshake” can be used. In the 4-Way handshake mechanism, a client device such as a laptop computer, smartphone, or other client device, generally referred to as a “station,” negotiates with a wireless router or other device, generally referred to as an “access point,” to establish a secure networking session. During the session, the station may seek a connection to the Internet or other networks
In the 4-Way handshake approach, the station and access point exchange a series of four defined messages, based on which mutual authentication can be carried out. The access point can interact with a remote authentication dial in user service (RADIUS) server or other authentication server, a platform, or a service to establish a set of shared secrets and/or public and private keys that are used by the station and access point to execute the 4-Way handshake procedure. As part of the 4-Way handshake procedure, the station and access point can access a shared secret, which can include a pair Wise master key (PMK). Messages exchanged between the station and the access point can be encoded using further sets of public and private keys, including a transient pairwise key (PTK), which can be constructed using the pair-wise master key as a generator for further encryption key layers.